David and Dogs

2006-02-23T06:36:00.000-08:00

Emma, Madison and Keelin

2006-02-23T06:24:00.000-08:00

Keelin went to the Cataraquai Mall in Kingston on Saturday and to the Quinte Mall in Belleville on Sunday. Both days she was worked by two different handlers and adjusted to the new experienced immediately and without difficulty.

Emma who is five years old and Madison who is only three years old demonstrated that they were both mature enough to have a puppy of their own. I will submit an article about the puppy for Emma and Madison later.

First series of pictures are from Kingston and the second set is from Belleville.

2006-02-22T06:49:00.000-08:00

Here is a quick update on Brin's 7 1/2 week old puppies which I hope will be the first of many this week. Nancy and I are going to donate one of the chocolate males to the LFC and we will be able to foster him for them.

Keelin is now 11 months old and is having her first season (heat), she should be recalled by the middle or the end of March. Keelin's mother Kyra is very proud of her daughter and shows her how to walk properly when wearing seasonals.

I will submit an article about Keelin's trip to the malls in Kingston and Belleville, Ontario last Saturday and Sunday.

Please stay tuned.

2006-02-01T14:27:00.000-08:00

A Study to determine if four-week-old Labrador retriever puppies have a sense of humour has been conducted at Labradorea University in Labrador, Labrador. This study is being funded by the Labradors Always Bring Smiles (Labs) society.

For many years now Labrador retriever owners have been claiming that their Lab has a sense of humour. For once and for all, the results of this study will determine if this claim is accurate.

Professor’s Golden and Chesapeake of Labradorea Animal Biology Research And Development Of Retriever Studies have randomly chosen six, four-week-old Labrador retriever puppies to test these claims on.

The test puppies were lined up side by side and told that their new owners were going to be their Masters and Boss’s and they were to obey them without hesitation.
Look below \/ for the results of this most important study.

2006-02-01T13:27:00.000-08:00

Study concludes that four out of six, four-week-old Labrador retriever puppies have a sense of humour. This study was funded by the Labradors Always Bring Smiles (LABS) society.

2006-01-29T10:18:00.000-08:00

2006-01-29T09:43:00.000-08:00

Brin's puppies are four weeks old today and they are all growing and developing normally. The puppies all have their own unique facial features which we find adorable. The roughest and toughest puppy in the litter is Austen-Abby, the only female. If Nancy and I get to choose her registered name, it will be Charlsdan's Spirit of Samynat to honour three of our heroes.

2006-01-26T17:50:00.000-08:00

Keelin's ten month assessment went extremely well today. We were told that she could be recalled for formal training by the 1st of March.

Her sister Koala (who we also donated) was there as well; in my opinion, with her lack of socilization and obedience, she couldn't possibly be accepted into training by then, if ever.

Her brother Kaden (who we also donated) had been disqualified for a degenerative joint disease in his right elbow (the front leg). The people who were fostering Kaden, adopted him from the organization last October and have since put him down for "biting agression".

Now you can all understand why I wrote my article on the 22 January. We found out about Kaden being put down the day after Brin's puppies were born.

We will never forget breathing life into you or holding and loving you for those eight wonderful weeks, Macho Man.

2006-01-25T09:39:00.000-08:00

My yellow ribbon boy Neilson-Taffy is having one of those kind of days. You all know the kind of day I'm talking about, just like the one that David had yesterday.

Brin

2006-01-24T04:57:00.000-08:00

Brin's Puppies

Brin's puppies are 24 days old today and they are all developing normally. The puppies all had some, watery kibble pabulum, yesterday and enjoyed it very much. Brin has lots of rich milk so life in the whelping box is good.

2006-01-22T19:27:00.000-08:00

The Responsibilities of Raising a Puppy for a Service Dog Organization

Why would anyone want to foster and raise a puppy for a service dog organization? This would be a very unique thing to do, we could take the puppy with us everywhere we go, almost always you get a purebred puppy free, with free food and free Vet care; if the puppy fails you even get the opportunity to adopt it. I am personally afraid this is far too often the reason some people have and do go into fostering puppies for a service dog organization.

I foster puppies for service dog organizations because I personally know what it means to be physically disabled. I have a very rare heart condition called Hypertrophic Cardio Myopathy. My condition is very difficult to manage and has cost me my career and my everyday quality of life. However; I can see, I can hear and I can walk so I am very fortunate and I want to use these abilities of mine to help someone less fortunate than myself. So I foster puppies for a service dog organization and I breed purebred Labrador retrievers in order to donate one or two puppies from each litter, if at all possible, to a service dog organization.

There are twelve other people that I know of who share similar attitudes and commitments to fostering puppies. These are the people for whom I admire, respect and look up to. They are my Heroes. We don't always agree with each other but we all share one common goal and that is "The Big Picture".

When any one of us who fosters and raises a puppy for a service dog organization, we make a simple commitment, and that is, to work hard and to do our very best to raise the puppy properly. From the moment we receive the puppy our responsibilities begin immediately. A person does not need to have previous experience raising puppies or having had a pet dog, just a commitment to read and employ the techniques and training methods found in the puppy manual which we are all provided with and to seek out advice, help and then put into daily use that advice and training methods provide by that service dog organization.

The service dog organization, which we are involved with, is without question the only agency we are to deal with when it comes to this puppy. Suggestions from friends, TV, other puppy raisers etc are only that, suggestions.

One example; it is cute, sweet and even adorably devilish behaviour when a pet puppy won’t come to us, but if this is not corrected immediately and effectively by the owner this behaviour will just be reinforced in the puppy. If this puppy is just a personal pet you end up with an everyday normal anoying bad habit. If however, this puppy is a potential service dog which we have made a commitement to properly raise and train, this then is a priority for us to immediately correct.

If we can't correct this behaviour ourselfs we must make sure that we seek the help of our service dog organization right away and get this problem resolved. There is no such thing as, lots of time, when it comes to correcting potentially disqualifying bad habits in a service dog puppy. This is not my rule that is just common sence.

I welcome debate but there is one thing you should also know about me and that is I take fostering these puppies very seriously and I don’t suffer fools. The cost of a fully trained client and (seeing eye) service dog team is in the neighbourhood of $25,000.00, so the potential value of a foster puppy is $25,000.00 or more for different programs.

I could not do any of these things, if it wasn’t for the devotion and support I receive from my wife Nancy.

2006-01-21T19:44:00.000-08:00

I took a ten minute rest to have a coffee and to give Keelin a break also.

It was also very nice to have a break from the puppies too.

2006-01-21T18:50:00.000-08:00

Keelin had a busy training day at the Mall this afternoon. We put her through every possible situation we could think of and she performed very well. Her sit stays and down stays with children all around were flawless, which is a major breakthrough for her, as she just adores children.

There were more people than usual reaching out to touch her as they walked by and some even called her to come. She remained very focused and only occasionally needed a small quick correction to ignore the distraction.

Keelin and I have a very important assessment coming up on Thursday with the puppy staff and various program trainers. This assessment will determine if we have achieved our training requirements with her. The trainers will give us an idea of which program they feel she may be best suited for and no doubt offer opinions and advice on areas which will require more work.

2006-01-16T10:55:00.000-08:00

Puppies, Pupils and Our Pa

My sister Madison and I had a busy day today. We help our Pa with the puppies. Maddy and I hugged all of the puppies and we watched them eating to.

We helped Pa stick a lot of pictures up on the wall. Jen’s pupils painted these for Brin and her puppies. I helped my Pa to pick up poop and Maddy did to. We love the puppies and I got to feed Brin, Keelin and Kyra supper. The end.

The puppies turned two weeks old yesterday and they weigh three pounds two ounces on average. The heaviest is blue who weights three and one quarter pounds and the lightest is pink, she weights three pounds one ounce. The female pink, eyes have opened and the rest of the puppies should have their eyes open by midweek.

Jen’s grade one/two class made paintings and mailed them to Brin and her puppies. Thanks to Emma and Madison they now adorn the whelping room walls. Every other day two students write to their favourite puppy and the puppy in turn writes back to the student. The students eagerly read the letters to their class and show them the most recent pictures of the puppy. We all have fun and the letters are individual and very thoughtful.

Sandy: In the early spring of 1966 we were living on Frank Street in Ottawa, ON and we got our adorable sweet Sandy. He was a small mixed breed with a light brown sandy colour in his fur. He was simply one of the nicest dogs we ever had. Sandy would deliberately roll around in mud puddles just to get our father to give him a bath.

One early evening in August all of the neighbourhood children were playing in front of our house with my younger brother and sister. Sandy ran out into the street and was hit by a car; he didn’t have a mark on him, he died in my arms as I was carrying him back to our house.

2006-01-11T15:42:00.000-08:00

Interesting Questions and Answers about raising new born puppies.

For the benefit of those of us who have never raised newborn puppies (and the kids at school), does the mother clean up all the puppy poo and pee?

The mother instinctively stimulates the puppies with her tongue to relieve them. She consumes the waist in order to keep her whelping box (den) clean. However, because Brin had to have a C-section it took her over fourty-eight hours to learn and perfect this requirement. This is when the breeder makes sure to relieve all of the puppies when required and to encourage the mother to take over. I relive the puppy by stimulating them with a warm wet cloth, it can take as long as five to ten minutes because the stools can be very hard in the first week.

And then does she leave them every now and then to relieve herself?

The mother can be taken out to relieve herself regularly but she also has to be closely watched for any signs of ill health. Each female dog is different however, some resist leaving their puppies and sadly some will reject the puppies; Brin is an excellent mother like Kyra was. She will gladly go out side for relief and to have her meals and her wash-up but then wants back in with the puppies right away.

And when she leaves them, do they cry a lot?

No, the puppies will cry or squawk a lot when they are hungry or have to be relived. Crying is also a sign of discomfort or stress, too hot, too cold or individually a pup doesn’t feel well. We have had two-hour stretches where the puppies are all asleep but not quietly. They coo, chirp, dream, moan and groan this is very relaxing and comforting to listen to. At times like this the mother will curl up outside of the whelping box and try to catch up on her sleep.

New born puppies can be compared to a symphony orchestra; the tuning every one tunes their own instruments, sectional scales and runs, the curtain opens (little minds become conscious) the conductor arrives (Mr. Hunger) tap-tap (belly grumble), then Dah Dah Da Dummm, (Cry Cry Cry Cryyyyy), Feed Feed Feed me Nowww.

And what age are they when they begin to escape the box?

Once the puppies learn how to walk and get and get their front paws up on the pig rail (which is in the box so the puppies can lay under and not get squished by Brin), we take out the rail. A week or 10 days later they can crawl up over the open door; we close the whelping box door and when the puppies are weaned and eating solid food they are moved down stairs into their Four by Eight foot run until they go to their new homes.

And what do you do then about all the puppy poo and pee?

We are constantly cleaning up the whelping box, scrubbing the box daily and changing the news paper two to three times a day. In their run we use wood chips on top of layers of news papers, we change the run once a day but we also regularly shovel out any waist we find.

Blacky: A Lab mix our family got when we lived in Alberta in the early sixtys. She was a loveable and playful girl we owned for two years. Before we moved to Ontario we re-homed her to a farming family who had two physicaly handicapped children. Blacky loved those children and lived out her life with them; our sweet Blacky.

2006-01-11T07:38:00.000-08:00

Curious and Curiouser

Kyra and Keelin came into the whelping room the other day to visit with Brin and her puppies. They stayed for a short time; although cautious of them, Brin remained calm and unthreatened. The puppies never even knew that they had visitors.

SKIPPY: My first dog I got fifty-four years ago and we will never forget you, Skip.

2006-01-10T12:51:00.000-08:00

The Puppies are 10 days old today.

The puppies are all growing very fast and they are all within 1 ounce of each other in weight. In pictures the blacks appear to be smaller than the chocolates but they are actually the heaviest of the six.

Two very special groups of people are involved in the daily lives of Brin's puppies, observing their growth and development.

The first group of people consists of three teenage service dog puppy raisers, our two granddaughters and a grade one/two schoolteacher. The six of them have each chosen one of the puppies to give a nickname to and they all receive daily updates and pictures of their God puppy and the litter.

The second group is the students of the grade one/two elementary school teacher. Her students have each chosen a puppy to follow in its progress and growth. They formed groups and by survey and voting each group have given their particular puppy a nickname. With a digital camera, e-mail and a light pro the puppies are a part of the students reading and writing classes everyday.

The students write letters to Brin and to their favourite puppy; and the puppies write back to each individual student. They are drawing pictures for the pups, updating the puppy’s weight and growth charts daily in pounds and metric. Each student is going to hand write a letter to his or her favourite puppy and request a paw-di-graphed picture. Each student will receive in return a personnel letter and a picture with the puppy’s paw print on it.

First Group Second Group

Pink B F Sam - Austen Gr 1/2 Abby
Red B M Maddy - Rosie Gr 1/2 Jack
Purple C M Emma - Wiggles Gr 1/2 Rocky
Yellow C M Jen - Neilson Gr 1/2 Taffy
White C M Amy - Fudge Gr 1/2 Spike
Blue C M Nat - Raleigh Gr 1/2 Trigger

There is also a third group of people and that would be you.

2006-01-07T23:46:00.000-08:00

Kyra and Keelin

2006-01-07T23:45:00.000-08:00

Kyra and Brin nervously waiting to visit Brin and the puppies. Note the whelping wagon in the background. The next picture shows Brin and her brood.

2006-01-07T22:22:00.000-08:00

Welcome to David and Dogs,

I would like to introduce you all to the Charlsdan Labradors; Kyra, Keelin, Brin and her six puppies. Brin has 2 blacks a male and a female as well as four chocolate males. She whelped the first puppy at 02:15 on New Years Day and then ran into difficulty. After several trips to the Vet she was given a C-section in the afternoon and the last four puppies were born.

Kyra is our black female Labrador she whelped her first litter last March 29th. She had 11 puppies 5 yellows and 6 blacks. Nancy and I donated 3 of the puppies (2 females, 1 black & 1 yellow and 1 yellow male) to a service dog organization; we were honoured to be given the opportunity to raise one of the donated dogs for the organization. Her name is Keelin and she is the yellow female.

Our previous experience raising service dog puppies includes 3 puppies and 1 breeding dog for the organization. Two of the puppies went on to graduate and are now working guide dogs for the visually impaired and the breeding dog had two litters and is now retired living the good life.

Pupas, went to the Rainbow Bridge 60 years ago; he greated my father in May 1989. I know how happy my father is to be reunited with his Pupas.